Back home, but not for long

Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. My family and I went to two gatherings, both lots of fun with lots of food. :) I had fun playing with the various kidlets, plus Wayne & Vicky's 6-month old pup Kate who is so sweet and has grown so much since I last saw her. Mocha was pretty good yesterday too... he was as usual very excited to see Mark & Tita Marie when they stopped by. Oh! And at the first party, the gang surprised me with a (belated) birthday cake! Very cool and unexpected. :)

I was among the many travelers affected by the nasty weather in Chicago on Wednesday. I was originally scheduled to arrive around 4pm... my flight eventually landed at midnight and I got home around 2am. My original flight out of Albany was cancelled after we waited about four hours... I got re-booked (in first class!) on the next flight which was also very delayed. Then on our first landing approach into O'Hare we had to abort because another plane didn't clear the runway in time (doh). Finally we landed, taxiied for a while, I waited 20 minutes for my checked bag, trudged through the snow in the parking lot, and finally drove off around 1:30am. Fortunately there was no traffic at that time :) so I got home pretty quick. Anyway, I am glad I made it home safely and didn't have to spend the night at the airport!

I start my new assignment in Cincinnati on Monday (already - so much for downtime!)... I know some people there from the Chicago office so that'll be good. This is supposed to be a pretty short gig, too... six weeks or so. We'll see how it goes!

Back from Cali

Just got back tonight from my trip to Cali... Had a great time with family out there. Thanks so much to Jay, Karen, Rommel, Tita Lita & Uncle Carlos for their hospitality! I'm also glad to have met Karen's new baby Sydney and to see big sister Sam again. :)

Edit: Some pics from my Cali trip:

 
Me w/Jay, Uncle Carlos, and Tita Lita 

 
Me w/sleepy Sydney 

 
Sydney and Sam  

Maryland fun

I spent a wonderful weekend in Maryland with my uncle and his family. I got to hang out with my two little cousins, one who turned 6 on Sunday :) and one who's 8. On Saturday we went to the 6-year-old's birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese, then Sunday we drove up to Baltimore to check out the aquarium and inner harbor (we even rode a paddleboat). Fun time! Now I am tired but it was worth it :)

Tita Marie's wedding is coming up on Saturday. That should be interesting. Also, on Friday I'm meeting up with one of my college roomies and good pal Mark E. I haven't seen him since his wedding a couple years ago, so I'm looking forward to catching up.

Edit: Here's a photo from my Maryland visit:


Me w/my uncle and cousins at Inner Harbor in Baltimore 

It's up to you, NY, NY

Just spent a full and fun weekend in Manhattan with Mom and Tita Cora. Arrived early Saturday morning via Amtrak, grabbed some breakfast at a Sbarro near Macy's, and then started our sightseeing bus tour. First stop was Empire State Building, where we went up to the observatory to see NYC from above. We hopped back on the bus tour and rode through several Manhattan neighborhoods (Greenwich Village, SoHo, TriBeCa) till we reached Battery Park, where we had lunch and shopped for some trinkets. Back on the bus, we rode back uptown through Little Italy, Chinatown, past the U.N. building, Central Park South, and back to Times Square. At Times Square we stood in line at the TKTS booth and managed to score 1/2-price tickets for "Rent" that evening! We then shopped at Macy's, grabbed a light dinner at a nearby deli, then rested up before heading back out to catch the show... which was excellent.

That was Saturday (whew). On Sunday, we went out for breakfast, went to mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral, then caught the sightseeing bus back to Battery Park to catch the Statue of Liberty ferry. Back in Times Square, we stopped in at the big Hershey's Store for some chocolate-based souvenirs :) and then rushed back to the hotel so I could pick up my bags and catch my train back to Albany. All in all, a fun weekend, and now I'm tired, but it was worth it! Pics to come...

Edit: Here's a random sampling of photos from my Manhattan trip:


View from Empire State Building observation deck 


Mom taking a photo of the Empire State Building (LOL) 


Umbrella art exhibit in Battery Park 


Horse & carriage near Grand Army Plaza 


The Hershey's Store!!! 


Street musicians near the tkts booth 


The hustle and bustle of Times Square 


Me w/Lady Liberty 

Meet me in... Albany?

Meet me in... Albany? I got assigned to the eMedNY project today. I start on Monday! Not looking forward to winter travel, and this might mess things up with the class I'm taking. On the positive side, I know a bunch of Chicago-based people already working on the project, so I won't feel all alone out there.